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Also, will you be tracking energy use? Love to know if you "see" savings, noticeable savings.

The output is nowhere near the same as a CFL or incandescent bulb, lumen is weak in comparison, noticeably weaker. I also notice a "shaky" or "strobe" affect in the eyes when reading, it's almost seizure like and drives me nuts, the wife doesn't notice it as much. Also anything with movement (like a moth) causes this strobe affect.

I went with the GE Energy Smart bulbs. A mix of 2, 2.5, and 4.5 watt bulbs.

Electric bill is what I meant. When heavy light users switch form incand to cfl, they tend to "see" the savings. They are significant enought for them to notice without doing complex tracking. That's what I was wondering.

People who change as bulbs burn out don't see savings. Makes sense when you think about it.

I'm on pretty much total CFL and LED in my house at this point. The few exceptions are the T8's in the garage (a crap load of them), the mini-halogens in my master bedroom and dining room ceiling fans that I haven't found any alternative to, and the 100W halogen wall units on either side of my garage door, that burn at 40% dusk-to-dawn, and 100% with motion - haven't found anything that works as well in those fixtures yet...

I do particularly like the 14/19/32W 3-way CFL's I put in my living room and family room table lamps. At 2700K, they put out a VERY comfortable light, and are much more 'reliable' than a dimmable CFL. (though I think they are still technically dimmable CFL's, but are designed just for the three levels).

I installed LED's in my living room because heat from the incandescent bulbs was affecting the thermostat nearby. Plus they were 4 original 1925 lamp wall sconces and we use them every night. I figure any amp reduction I can find on the old wiring so good. All major appliances had dedicated circuits already.

Hard to say if the savings are there. Not much tp compare it to. Bigger house, 2 furnaces, more lights, among other things. Our base load...april and october bills is around $70 whereas it was $50 in our last house less than half this size.

Just for your general information. Oil and Coal, are subsidized by the USA federal government. To compete, solar has to be subsidized as well. Before condeming "green" tech you might wanna find out if the current tech could stand on it's feet first.

Lets be clear I want all subisides ended, because it messes up the markets, and causes things like Ethenal gas.

Oh btw, you have fossil fuel subsides up in canada as well. The playing feild really does need to be evened out.

The sun and the wind are selfish - they don't care when we actually need the energy.

It won't ever matter how cheap solar/wind will ever become, because the technology is not suitable for use on the grid.

Wind energy production is highest on cool spring and fall nights, when demand is at it's lowest. Consequently, either much of the capacity gets wasted or some base load reactors have to be shut down when demand is too low. Since reactors can't be restarted quickly, doing that means burning more coal/gas during the day - exactly the opposite of what green energy programs are supposed to accomplish!!

Solar is even worse because a quick change in weather can reduce output over a large region to practically nothing in a matter of minutes.

Granted, the oil/gas/coal companies shouldn't have received special treatment (aka tax cuts, grants to develop - not subsidies); but at least coal and gas fired plants can actually produce electricity when they're called upon.

Grid operators and planning agencies know that, so they recommend wind/solar; "green energy" legislation on the other hand, (crafted by lawyers, not engineers) overrides the good judgement of experienced people who know what they're doing and forces utilities to buy the power produced by "on the grid but useless" wind/solar installations.

We can't "unplug" even 10% of the power plants online and "plug into" wind/solar. End of story.

Our base load...april and october bills is around $70 whereas it was $50 in our last house less than half this size.
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Hold crap you only pay $70 a month for your electric bill a month? I think I want to move to IA. I pay about $130 a month for a 1200 sq ft house. Last month with the heat wave it was $190, I nearly myself when I got the bill.
Any ways I have been using all CFL in my house, regular bulbs no par 30 or 38, got them from Walmart they are not that "cool white" they are more soft white. Also been doing alot of par 30 and 38 in the buildings at work. Firured out that going from incadecent flood type lamps to LED will go from using about 6000 watts to 780 watts, blows my mind the savings. But you guys are right about the LED lumens for the outside/ parking lot fixtures nothing comes close to matching the 1000 MH lamps, even the wall packs that are a 500 watt MH. Also havent found any that would look good in a regular household lamps. Any recommendations?

Many LEDs are marketed as 40-60 watt replacements when the lumen output is very low.

At $25-$40 a piece, it's hard to justify purchasing LEDs when you can get good CFLs for $2-3.50 each in bulk.

I agree that is the main reson for not switching although if I could find one that I like could switch over one or two a month. The price is still too high for it to get mainstreamed. I actually heard of people buying incad before the phase out. Still makes no sense even though they cost .50 you can get a CFL for 3$ but last 4 times as long and uses less power, no brainer to me.

$70 is my lowest bill...twice a year in shoulder season. Peak this summer was $275 in july. $180 in june and aug and $120 for may and sept. There,s a lot of thermal mass so the bills rise and drop off sharply in heating and cooling. In ,my last house most of sept I used heat in the am and ac in the evening. In this house I havent used hardly the either in over a week. And all the windows are closed.